Campaign by Amnesty International for Journalist Jamal Khashoggi

* Photograph: Umar Farooq / AA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Amnesty International has launched a campaign for the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, whose whereabouts has not been known since October 2, when he was last seen while entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul.

With its campaign entitled "Where is Jamal Khashoggi?", Amnesty International has been calling its supporters from all around the world to send a pre-prepared petition to the government of Saudi Arabia to request information about "the fate and whereabouts" of Khashoggi.

The members of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) also gathered in front of the Washington Post newspaper's office in the US and asked the whereabouts of Khashoggi.

A call for cooperative investigation

The petition published on the website of the organization and addressed to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman is as follows:

"I am writing to voice my concern about the enforced disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.

"I'm calling on the Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately reveal his fate and whereabouts, as well as cooperate with the investigations by the Turkish authorities and any independent and impartial investigations that may be launched into his disappearance.

"Those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's enforced disappearance and any harm that may have befallen him must face justice – as must those who ordered any such act, irrespective of their rank or status.

"Amnesty International has documented an intensified crackdown on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in Saudi Arabia since September last year, including the arrest and continued detention without charge of prominent women human rights defenders and dissidents.

"If reports by the Turkish authorities on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi are true, this would be a serious escalation in the Saudi Arabian authorities' crackdown on peaceful dissent, which must stop immediately.

"I am writing to urge you to provide credible answers on the fate and whereabouts of Jamal Khashoggi with a view to bringing clarity to Jamal Khashoggi's family and aid the pursuit of justice."

What happened?

The whereabouts of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has been a columnist at Washington Post newspaper and a citizen of Saudi Arabia, has not been known since October 2, 2018 at 1 a.m., when he was last seen while entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul.

CLICK - Last Image of Jamal Khashoggi Published

Reuters news agency and journalists from Turkey as well as the Chair of Turkish-Arabic Media Association Turan Kışlakçı have claimed that Khashoggi was killed and his body was taken out of the consulate.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hami Aksoy has announced that the officials in the General Consulate of Saudi Arabia accepted the request of Turkey to make an investigation at the consulate.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also has assigned a deputy chief prosecutor and a chief public prosecutor to conduct the judicial processes in the investigation that has been launched by Turkey after the journalist, who has allegedly been killed, was reported to be missing. (AS/SD)